Where does “trillion” come from?
Trillion comes from French trillion, from French -illion, ultimately from French billion, derived from the prefix bi- meaning two.
trillion (English): A million million: 1 followed by twelve zeros,...
Definitions
- A million million: 1 followed by twelve zeros,...
Ancestry of “trillion”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | French | trillion | 10; a long scale trillion; a short scale... |
| 2 | French | -illion | illion |
| 3 | French | million | million, 10 |
| 4 | Middle French | million | million, 10 |
| 5 | Old French | millon | — |
| 6 | Italian | milione | million |
| 7 | Italian | mille | thousand |
| 8 | Latin | Mīlle | thousand; 1000 |
| 9 | Proto-Italic | smīɣeslī | thousand |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | smih₂ǵʰéslih₂ | — |